In video multicast/broadcast over IP-based wireless networks, video data is encapsulated in UDP/IP packets and multicast/broadcast to the mobile devices over wireless networks. The IP-based wireless networks can be wireless local area networks (WLANs), cellular networks, wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs) and wireless regional area networks (WRANs). When a mobile device moves from one cell to another, it is handed-over/handed-off from the base station (BS)/access point (AP) with which it is currently associated to another BS/AP. The two BSs/APs generally operate at different frequencies/channels. A number of packets are lost when the mobile device changes operating frequency to associate with the new BS/AP.
Typically, a broadcast signal is transmitted to all possible receivers simultaneously. A multicast signal is transmitted to a selected subset (one or more) of all possible receivers in a group simultaneously. As used herein multicast also includes broadcast. That is, a multicast signal may be transmitted to a selected subset of all possible receivers in a group where the selected subset may include the entire set of all possible receivers, i.e. the multicast group is all receivers.
In wireless systems, channel coding is used at the physical layer to protect packets against multipath fading and interference. However, channel coding cannot recover burst packet loss during handovers/handoffs.
One prior art method provides for transmission of duplicate data time-delayed/time-shifted from the original data (staggercasting) in an ATSC system to improve broadcast system robustness. When duplicate, time-staggered streams are sent, the system can tolerate signal loss up to the duration of the time shift between the two streams. Another prior art method provides a lower bit rate version of the original data (instead of the exact original data) is repetitively transmitted with a time delay. This approach reduces the bandwidth used by the redundant data. However, both of these prior art schemes send a composite signal and always send the signals whether or not there are any clients/receivers that want/need the data.
Yet another prior art method provided for the use of cross-packet forward error correction (FEC) codes to protect against synchronization loss in an ATSC system. FEC codes have also been used to recover lost packets in IP-based wireless networks. In general, an erroneous packet is discarded by the link layer. The FEC codes are applied across data packets at the transport and application layers and erasure decoding is used to recover the lost packets. However, the FEC parity packets are generally sent together with the data packet. During handoffs/handovers, long error bursts may occur. These long error bursts lead to the loss of data packets and parity packets exceeding the FEC capability, so that the lost data packets cannot be recovered.
The problem addressed and solved by the present invention is how to protect against packet loss during handoff/handover for high-quality video multicast/broadcast over IP-based wireless networks.